AFTER suffering through the worst pain she’s ever experienced, a woman was left stunned after discovering she has multiple extra body parts – including an extra kidney and extra pair of ovaries.
Mel Placanica, 31, faced countless health issues, including “terrible stomach pain” and severe bleeding.
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After undergoing tests in a bid to uncover the route of the problem and an intense wait, she was eventually told she had two vaginas.
The results showed she had two uteruses, four ovaries, two cervixes and three kidneys – a total of five extra organs.
Mel, from Adelaide, South Australia, said: “I had terrible stomach pain, just like the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.
“My mum took me to ED (emergency department) and straight away they did a scan, and they saw a uterus and this lump-type shape next to it. So automatically they thought it’s a tumour.”
After a scan, medics thought they found a tumour on her uterus, but soon after, those results were found to be false, delaying any hopes Mel had of finding out what was wrong.
The end result meant Mel experienced early menopause during her thirties.
It wasn’t until she visited a gynaecologist to have a different scan that the truth the makeup artist had yearned for was revealed.
A gynaecologist specialises in diagnosing and treating the female reproductive system.
According to Mel, the medical professional first suspected that she had a tumour until they did a laparoscopy scan on her.
The scan revealed results that caught Mel off guard.
With the scan focusing on her stomach, it showed she unknowingly had a plethora of body parts. Shortly after, some were removed.
Mel had one uterus removed, two ovaries removed, while splitting the two cervixes, turning them into just one.
As if that wasn’t enough for Mel to stomach, they also found endometriosis on the lining of her uterus, which played a huge role in the pain symptoms she experienced.
Endometriosis is where tissue similar to the lining in the uterus grows outside of the uterus.
Mel said: “The moral of the story is that you cannot always trust a scan.
“A scan will not show everything otherwise everything would have showed up on the scan and it wouldn’t have taken as long as it did.
“So, I go to the gynaecologist, and she looks at my scans and she is thinking the same thing – that it looks like a tumour.
“I found out I had two uteruses, four ovaries, two cervixes – essentially two vaginas.
“I also have three kidneys so I’m assuming that maybe I could have been a twin, and I like absorbed the other one.”
Uterus didelphys – what is it and how common is it?
Uterus didelphys is a rare congenital condition where you’re born with two uteruses. It’s most commonly called a double uterus.
Each uterus has its own fallopian tube and ovary. Some people may also have two cervixes and two vaginal canals.
It can cause pregnant complications and painful menstruation, but while some people have surgery to treat it, most cases don’t require treatment.
Symptoms can include:
- Pain during sex
- Painful cramping before and during your period
- Heavy bleeding during your period
- Leaking blood when using a tampon (tampon is only in one vaginal canal and not the other)
The best way to be diagnosed is during a routine pelvic exam after feeling two cervixes or two vaginas.
Most healthcare providers don’t recommend treating a double uterus unless you experience symptoms like repeat late pregnancy loss.
Source: Cleveland Clinic
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